MARGE PIERCY by Danniella Hornby
Marge Piercy's Published Work
-Breaking
Camp (1968).
-Hard Loving (1969
-Going Down Fast (1969)
-Dance the Eagle to Sleep (1970)
-4-Telling (1971)
-To Be Of Use (1973)
-Small Changes (1973)
-Living in the Open (1976)
-The Twelve-Spoked Wheel
-Flashing (1978)
-The High Cost of Living (1978)
-The Last White Class (1979)
-The Moon Is Always Female (1980)
-Vida (1980)
-Circles on the Water: Selected
-Poems of Marge Piercy (1982)
-Braided Lives (1982)
-Parti-colored Blocks for a Quilt (1982)
-Stone, Paper, Knife (1983)
-Fly Away Home (1984)
-My Mother's Body (1985)
-Early Ripening: American
-Women's Poetry Now (1987)
-Gone to Soldiers (1987)
-Available Light (1988)
-Summer (1989)
-The Earth Shines
-Secretly: A Book of Days (1990)
-He, She and It (1991)
-Mars
and her Children (1992)
-The Longings of Women (1994)
-City of Darkness, City of (1996)
-What are Big Girls Made Of? (1997)
-The Eight Chambers of the Heart (1995)
-Woman on the Edge of Time (1997)
-Written in Bone: The
-Early Poems of Marge
-Piercy (1998)
-Storm Tide (1998)
-Early Grrrl (1999)
-The Art of Blessing the Day:
Poems with a Jewish Theme (1999)
-Three Women (1999)
Biography of a Grrrl
Marge Piercy is a passionate poet and author who draws ideas from experiences in her past and her writing is reflective of those specific experiences.
Originally from Detroit, Piercy was born to working-class parents, in a family struggling through the Depression. Poverty among working-class families is a topic she later wove into her writing. Piercy was raised Jewish by her family, and later became more involved in Judaism after moving to Cape Cod. Piercy even went on to compile a book of Jewish themed poems, called The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme (1999).
Piercy attended the University of Michigan after she won a scholarship, making her the very first member of her family to attend college. Even before she started writing seriously, Piercy’s mother introduced her to the ideas of becoming a strong and independent woman. These ideas highly influenced Piercy and the topics she writes about. This may have been a contributing factor when Piercy broke off her first marriage. She left her husband after she was treated as an inferior who was expected to fill a certain role, and because her writing was not of importance to her husband.
Piercy moved to several different cities, developing her writing style and trying to support herself while living independently. After leaving her marriage, she became poor and resorted to taking various jobs around Chicago, while trying hard to become published. The novels she had written went unnoticed and unpublished.
After Piercy experienced two unsuccessful marriages, she continued to take interest in political and feministic activism, which strongly influenced her writing style. The issues that Piercy supports and fights for contribute to the passion that is detectable in her writing. Passion and dedication are two themes that can be dedicated through Piercy’s works, possibly as a result of her commitment to political involvement and how she stands up to issues. Her writing has an open and truthful outlook on the things in the world that she observes, which contribute to the rich and honest work she produces. The idea of independent women who don’t fit into the classic and expected image is a recurring theme in many of Piercy’s poems. Through her writing, readers can see how Piercy feels about the expectations that have been placed on women. This idea is evident in poems such as “Belly Good”(1992) and “What Are Big Girls Made Of”? (1997). Piercy confronts female image expectations and the effort that women put in to living up to these.
Other themes that appear in Piercy’s writing are things that appear in nature. This may be because Piercy enjoys nature and things in the world. She sheds new light on common issues, images and expectations that people are supposed to live up to, and speaks it honestly through her writing.